Testimonials

The Voices of HG from
Around the World
All around the globe, HG women are speaking out

Physical Effects of HG

"Even the most severe stomach flu could not compare
to the horror I was experiencing."

"I weighed 96 lbs at one point and looked like walking
death. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

"I made it only to the 7th week, then I ended
it. I was violently ill. like nothing I had ever experienced before, I had
very low blood pressure, 59/39 at one point, a uterine hemorrhage, and a
kidney infection, and vomiting 15-20 times a day. I was on 6 different
anti-nausea drugs, and they did nothing. I still can't believe how sick I
was."

"I am a nurse. My first pregnancy, I had HG the entire
pregnancy, barely treated resulting in IUGR. My last pregnancy was severe. No
food for about 3 months. I lost about lbs in 2.5 weeks. The only thing
that kept me going was knowing each minute I stayed pregnant, was one step
further ahead than if I aborted and started over. It is a never ending
battle of wills between my desire for more children and my medical
knowledge that another pregnancy could be catastrophic to my health." Yvette
K., RN, Colorado Springs, CO

"My muscles have broken down from being unable to walk
without vomiting, I fractured a rib, tore my esophagus, damaged my eyes and
need ten root canals."

"I was in pain from the dehydration and bawling and
pleading for some relief. I went 4 weeks without eating one bite of
food."

"[At] 22 weeks. [my] PICC line was removed and I was
eating broth and crackers for every meal. then I got preeclampsia and was
put back on bed rest. Because of my deconditioned state I never really felt
like myself again... I fell and broke an ankle.. and developed a blood
clot in my leg. they feel I may have actually gotten when I [had] HG." Amber
D., Waukesha, WI

"I lived on my bathroom floor with my down comforter over
me or in the hospital getting an IV... My life turned upside down...
I went from a vibrant, happy, loving, spontaneous, career driver type A
personality to essentially - nothing." CR - Mill Valley, CA

"[She] has been bedridden in darkness - with no TV, no
ability to read, barely able to talk, for the last 7 weeks. A steady and
heartbreaking moan can be heard coming from her room. she hangs on, because
she knows if she terminates, she will never have the courage/strength to try
again." Gail, NJ

"I was hospitalised [from] 5 weeks [until] 17 weeks with
admissions till delivery, the emotional [and] physical toll were horrific. [I
was] vomiting 70+ times a day, nose bleeds, torn esophagus, burst blood
vessels in my eye. I gave up work, couldn't walk, couldn't eat, and lost aprox
30 pounds. I looked like a skeleton and felt. like I was dead. I tried
to slit my wrists at 17 weeks but something stopped me. There is no abortion
in Ireland otherwise I would have. I was so depressed after having him I
couldn't work till he was 7 months old. My son has special needs." Jacqueline
M., Ireland

"I felt that during my pregnancy my body had betrayed
me and that I would never have the family I dreamed of." C. H., Colorado
Springs, CO

"Some family members and friends. said that I had an
eating disorder because I could not control the sickness." Kristie R.

"I now have arthritis and some "minor" bone
density loss. I have lost most of my hair during pregnancies due to
malnutrition. This is with nutritional IV treatments." C. H., Colorado
Springs, CO

"When I was around 3 1/2 months. I [started] TPN. and stayed
on it until the day my daughter was born. I lost about 25 pounds. I
literally didn't eat or drink once my [TPN] line was put in. [just] ice
chips to wet my lips.." Garnet C., Davenport, IA

Beyond the Physical

"I would sleep on the floor of the bathroom most nights. My
husband didn't understand what was happening at all and got very
irritated with me. I would just cry all by myself and other times I was too
sick to even react to anything at all. I have never felt so alone in
my entire life." M

"I'm on short term disability but I'm waiting to be
fired at any moment. This of course just adds to the stress. Friends and
family try to understand but they think I have just a case of morning
sickness"

"I wanted this baby but it's been so long since I felt
that because I've been so sick that I can't even bond with it."

"After the pregnancy I really crashed, I was having full
blown panic attacks."

"There just wasn't any point in trying anymore. No one
could comprehend the sheer hell I was going through. I felt so guilty
because I actually wanted a miscarriage even though this child was planned
and wanted. This condition is very expensive and my insurance company
actually called me at my home on several occasions to ask me when I would be
getting better, as if I knew!"

"Emotionally I was hurt that in the waiting room at the
OB's office everyone who was pregnant and "typical", looked at
me like I had leprosy. Aimee-Ohio

"A close family member asked me if I was actually bulimic
and was not eating on purpose. Another accused me of just doing it for
attention." Marcie H. Denver, Colorado

"Every week the home health agency would call and ask how
I was feeling and if I was ready to come off the PICC line all because the
insurance company was pressuring them." Angie N., West Orange NJ

"With no family or support, we reluctantly put our
daughter into daycare because I was unable to care for her." Danielle O.,
Knoxville, TN

"I went through several different emotions... I hated
myself, the pregnancy, my life. I had panic/anxiety attacks because I felt so
trapped in my own body. I felt like I was going to lose my mind." Danielle
O., Knoxville, TN

"I speak with my husband and think about having another
child everyday... Others say often, "it's only 9 months" but if they could
have seen me, or what those surrounding me went through then, maybe just
maybe they would understand. The experience is so raw and scary and yes
the outcome is glorious but the journey almost killed me." CR - Mill Valley,
CA

Medically Misunderstood

"My doctors accused me of having an eating disorder."

"[The doctor] told me it was a mental problem and.
made me see a psychiatrist. He told me. that somewhere deep inside I didn't
really want to have a baby!"

"My insurance will only pay for Zofran one month at a
time, and only after I tried a lot of other medications that [were not]
effective. After the second hospital stay, I guess they discovered paying
for Zofran would be less expensive than another hospital stay." Jessica
Z., Lenexa, Kansas

"I almost died due to inadequate care."

"[I] went completely unmedicated because my doctor
kept saying 'It gets really bad before it stops! Come back in two weeks!'
over and over and over and over!"

"My best friend (24 years old) died from what I believe
was HG. She died over a year ago and her condition went 7 months
undiagnosed before she died. Serpil

"I can not get any treatment for this, because my
doctors are saying that this is mental."

"I was vomiting up to 70x a day... and received fluids
but no medication. Routinely they would wake me up at 3 o'clock in the
morning to weigh me. During this. a nurse actually suggested I have an
abortion. [The doctor] told [me] to. eat mashed potatoes. I was sent home
with a pamphlet on nutrition for pregnant women, the physician was not at
all empathetic and gave me a pseudo lecture on what to eat and what not to eat,
as if I could eat at all!" Marcie H. Denver, CO

"The doctor did not want to prescribe [medication] "because
I didn't seem too sick yet". This was very upsetting because. my
mother and grandmother had both been very ill with their pregnancies." Lori D.,
Belleville, Ontario

"I was questioned by my midwife and therapist that maybe I
"didn't want this baby" and that I "wasn't creating a healthy
environment for her to grow in me". I was too sick to fight back.
Now I am too scared to try again." Juliette, Warminster, PA

"I was not diagnosed until my 2nd pregnancy. The
doctor/midwife just kept telling me "it'll get better." It wasn't
until I was entering my 4th month and I had lost 15 lbs that they said,
"You really were sick!" Then they finally prescribed me some
medication. The first 2 doctors I spoke with had a 'wait and see' approach.
That is, let's wait and see just how sick you get." Jo Ann D.

"My plea to the world of non-HGers: quit suggesting crackers!
IT is really frustrating that there is such lack of
awareness that even some health care providers will
recommend things (like crackers) that may help for regular
morning sickness, but are like suggesting a band aid
to someone with a broken arm. I lost 10% of my body
weight in about 6 weeks, have had so many IVs for dehydration
that I can't even count. The suggestion of crackers
is insulting." EG , Seattle, WA

"[My OB said "It would be prudent for you to go on
some psychiatric medication because this sickness is connected to your
psychological condition." She then told the ER doctor to send me
home-that I was fine and the sickness was in my head." Ruth, Newport Beach,
CA

"I had seen a dozen of doctors at least. They just told me
it [happens] sometimes. and it could be psychological. The illness is nearly
unbearable, but the negation of that illness is simply destructive." Virginie
M., France

"Even after the child's catheter was rejected by my
collapsing veins, we came to the realization that I was going to have
surgery [to] have a catheter placed in my chest." Danielle O., Knoxville, TN

"I feel I took the 'easy' way out and ended up terminating
my pregnancies, I am ashamed to admit. The emotional scars. are horrific, my
life will never be the same. I can't afford Zofran. Surely it costs more to
have a patient in the hospital than to reduce the cost of medication." LJ,
Australia

"I was bounced from doctor to doctor who made me feel
like I was actually making myself sick. They gave me oral medication
(which of course never stayed down) and I had 13 [hospitalizations]. I
felt like I was a nuisance to them and that they quite frankly didn't
know what to do with me." Danielle O., Knoxville, TN

"I ended up losing my job and my life for nine months. was
told it was in my head. little treatment was offered... at 6 weeks pregnant.
all i wanted was the pain and sickness to stop and was told I would have to.
terminate. I have grieved every day for that loss. with awareness. and proper
[information] maybe people. [with HG] can be taken seriously and given proper
care. doctors can do operations that you'd never think. possible, yet they cant
stop [HG]. its heartbreaking, and soul destroying." K.N., Lancashire, England

"HG started around 4 wks but was not diagnosed until maybe
around the 10th week. Here I am pregnant and taking Zofran a cancer drug for
nausea and on TPN, another treatment for cancer. And the real kicker is they
put me on the cancer floor in the hospital because the maternity ward was
full...." Amber D., Waukesha, WI

"I have been much more assertive in this pregnancy to
ensure that I received the care that I needed and my experience has been much
different-still challenging but doable."

"I also developed ptyalism and one doctor was so disgusted
that I would not swallow my saliva he told me I had to and sat to watch, then
left when the violent vomiting returned." Aimee-Ohio

"One girl. was admitted to the inpatient psychiatric
unit during her 6th month because of HG. [HG] can be managed and treated
if recognized. Providers continue to treat it as a psychiatric condition or,
worse, do not even acknowledge that it exists. If people understood how to
recognize it early, perhaps women would not be faced with decisions such
as whether or not to terminate their pregnancies, or whether or not to
ever have more children." Tristin C., RN, Mobile, AL

"If I would have had an IV at home that hydrated me I
would not have needed to be admitted in the hospital and things would have
gone much better than they did." Maria F., Round Rock, TX

"I was constantly worried about the baby. Why wasn't my
doctor prescribing IV fluids. I hadn't gained a pound. the resentment
of my ob/gyn fueled me to change doctors, throw away the useless
prescriptions and aggressively take my health and my baby's health into my
own hands. However, it was too late. I suffered a 20 week loss of my son.
I think we desperately need to expose this issue, so that suffers aren't
misdiagnosed and mistreated by family and friends, doctors are more informed
and more remedies are developed to help the women who endure this illness.." Cynthia
T., Baltimore, MD

"Each week my doctor had to communicate with the Insurance
Company explaining why I still needed the feeding tube etc.for the first four
months. Susie J., Littleton, Colorado

H.E.R.
FOUNDATION - A Need for Help

"I have had 5 unsuccessful pregnancies in a period of nine
years. I had my gallbladder removed and had pancreatitis due to the severe
HG. I went from weighing 125 pounds to weighing 98 pounds. I do not even
know where to get help. I really want to experience being a mother."

"I am terrified. and praying every night that this
won't happen to me again."

"I would have liked someone to talk to who knew
what I was going through. I think that would have helped a lot because none
of the doctors understood about HG."

"My 19 year old daughter died on March 19 2002. She
was 13 weeks pregnant. and had been to the hospital twice the week before and
diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum."

"You are screaming inside 'HELP ME' as the doctor
is explaining this will all pass in X number of weeks. I feel like I'm
dying a slow death."

"Please for the sake of my daughter there must be help for
this, I truly am saddened to think she will have to go through what I did
to have her own child." Aimee, Ohio

"I hate that this disorder makes me PETRIFIED of pregnancy,
that it has to be so life altering, that I have to feel so sick for so long.
Every day I think about HG, I feel like I am not the same person since
I have endured so much, dramatic as that sounds." Kendis L., Sea girt NJ

"[I]t breaks my heart to see women come to the HelpHer
forums after just terminating a purposely conceived, highly desired
pregnancy, only to see them realize that with better medical care, personal
education and family support they could have endured the pregnancy,
being, in fact, only a few weeks from being over the very worst of HG... it
is the greatest injustice there is in HG: the woman who finds hope to survive
HG days too late - after the termination..." HER Forum Host, Andrea T. Idaho

".[E]veryone told me I would forget all about [HG] the
minute they put her in my arms, but they were wrong. It is. forever in my
head. was it all worth it? I am torn. Nothing can compare to the love you
have with your child. but to say it was all worth it is something I don't
feel completely comfortable saying." Angie N., West Orange NJ

"Our home health care costs were around $70,000! I was
unable to work . We still carry the burden of debt accrued." Danielle
O., Knoxville, TN

"My husband just didn't understand how I couldn't just
"stop thinking" about the nausea. It was horribly scary for my
daughter." Anna, Laguna Niguel, CA

"[HG went] undiagnosed and all I was offered was Phenergan
and bed rest. I missed 2 months of work. I was wrongfully terminated for
missing so much work, causing me to lose my income and my health insurance
mid-pregnancy. Ruth, Newport Beach, CA

"The only information I found was online [about HG]. was
after I'd had HG. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I felt. I was
dying of some weird illness. Doctors need to be more aware. and more
understanding." LJ, Australia

"I entered this pregnancy believing that pregnancy was a
healthy and natural life change and not an illness. I couldn't go to work. my
husband had to help to bathe me because I was so weak. since I lost over 30
pounds. my father [came daily] to care for me and. take me to my
appointments. my sisters shopped for food." Juliette P., Warminster, PA

"My employer was not understanding at all. I was
told that I was disappointing my team members because I would be at work for
a few days, then in the hospital for a week, then back at work for a day,
then in the hospital 4 days, etc." Garnet C., Davenport, IA

"It has been hard to be a patient with HG because so
little is known about the origin and treatments for HG. [We have] looked at
the studies on treatments that have been done. Many of them have small
sample sizes and as such are statistically insignificant. That leaves
women with HG to experiment with their bodies and that of their unborn
children." EG, Seattle, WA

"If I go into a store and pick up a plastic bag to have
something to throw up in if I am too far from the restroom, they might
suspect me of shoplifting, just like if I run to the restroom." Jessica Z.,
Lenexa, Kansas

Help from HER

"I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for
organizing this web-site. When this is over I will dedicate my life to
helping women with HG. I have found my purpose and will never take my
health for granted again."

"Support is just so crucial for women with HG,
because HG is viewed so skeptically by people who don't know about it."

"The website was a wonderful source of information,
support, and comfort for me."

"I feel empowered by the information from the HG
website."

"I felt like a failure and a prisoner in my home.What
helps more than anything is knowing there are others out there [who
understand] what I am going through."

"I've heard the term "HG" for the first time
thanks [the HER Foundation] when I was 5 months pregnant... when the worst
was behind me." Virginie M., France

"I think lending a helping hand would definitely help
my healing process, and at the same time help other women suffering with
this condition."

"Thanks for setting up a serious web site so that maybe
more health-care professionals could possibly become a little more serious
and aggressive about alleviating the miserable state that hyperemesis
gravidarum is for so many."

"The joy of impending motherhood is ripped out from under
you as you try to basically survive this and it can become a life threatening
situation. I was thrilled when I found the [HER] website because there was
nothing out there. I found support, and people who could say "Oh, I
know what you are going through, it happened to me!" Women who took
the time to talk to me and tell me I wasn't going crazy how I can help
myself." Susan C., Bethlehem, PA

"So many women have been impacted by HG, the HER
foundation is a home to find that support and information that we so
desperately need." Marcie H. Denver, CO

"[I was] scared to do it again but I so wanted another
baby. The girls at the HER Foundation gave me the strength and
encouragement. and I cant thank those ladies enough. Without them my
darling baby girl wouldn't be here. Jacqueline M., Ireland

"If it were not for the forum of HelpHER.org I would have
no data about my condition or how to cope with it." Cynthia T.,
Baltimore, MD

"The HER website has been a life saver! It has critical
information that has helped me advocate for myself in the medical system,
and I have really appreciated being in touch with other women who know
exactly what I am experiencing." EG, Seattle, WA

"I can't say enough how much I appreciate the HG website.
I have gotten so much support and information from it - that I don't
know what I would do if I hadn't found it. I wish that. I had found it
sooner. Maybe if I had, it would have woke her or her doctor up as to how
serious HG could be. This just proves that more people need to be aware of
this life threatening disease." Serpil

"Had I not had the support of my family, an educated
doctor, and the website I would not have the beautiful children I have today."
Sarah U., RN, Sunprairie, WI

"I have suffered MUCH stigma about HG. The HER website has
helped me educate family and friends on HG. I have helped 4 women.
realize that they had HG and went undiagnosed/untreated. I just want to thank
you immensely for the HER website and message boards-they have helped me
through my darkest times-times when I considered abortion, times when my OB
was not giving me good treatment, times when I didn't think I could go on
living with HG and felt no love for my unborn baby. The women I've met
through this website will forever be close to my heart." Ruth, Newport Beach,
CA

"[The HER website] has provided me resources that I cannot
find anywhere else, and gives me a place to refer those I love to so that
they might be able to somewhat understand." Jessica Z., Lenexa, Kansas